SPRINGFIELD – A City Council committee voted this week to recommend that pawn shops and jewelry stores be required to place a longer hold on secondhand gold and jewelry than the city's current 10-day requirement, a change aimed at giving police additional time to investigate and recover stolen items.

The council’s public health and safety committee voted 2-0 to propose a 23-day hold, an attempt to strike a compromise in what was sought by the shop owners and by police, committee Chairman Thomas M. Ashe said. The proposal will be considered by the full council in May, he said.

While some business owners asked for the current 10-day hold to stay in effect, saying a longer holding period could hurt them economically, the Police Department requested that Springfield return to a 30-day hold that was in effect for nearly 30 years before being reduced by the council in 2011.

Officers, including members of the housebreaks squad, said the longer period would give them a better chance to recover stolen gold and jewelry from housebreaks by locating them in the shops before they are resold.

Ashe and committee member John A. Lysak voted to recommend the 23-day hold.

“It was absolutely a compromise,” Ashe said. “Sometimes in government, that’s what it takes to move issues forward.”

“I understand the concerns of the business owners,” Ashe said. “I am also cognizant that citizens of Springfield have been victimized as well. You have to make sure that the Police Department is well equipped and armed to address those situations.”

Springfield Police Deputy Chief Robert McFarlin, Capt. Thomas Trites, and Sgt. Michael Reid were among officers attending the meeting and asking the council to reinstitute the 30-day hold requirement. Since the council changed the required hold to 10 days, recoveries have declined, police said.

In addition, police provided statistics in recent years that in cases where stolen jewelry was recovered, it was on average after a period of more than three weeks. Sometimes, the extent of the thefts is not immediately known, or the victims are just returning from vacation, police said.

Merchants said they can be hurt economically by holding merchandise in a volatile market and while facing competition from shops in other communities. The requirement for holding the secondhand jewelry and gold varies community to community in Massachusetts, they said.

“It’s unfortunate that the business community is going to conceivably suffer from the fact that the hold time is being lengthened,” said David Rosen, of Gold Trader. “The longer we have to hold things, the more likely it is that we are going to have – whatever our margins are – eroded.

Councilor Kateri B. Walsh also attended the meeting at City Hall, and said she is pleased that some of the shop owners present say they want to meet with the Police Department to discuss ways to work together. Rosen agreed, saying there is discussion of forming a task force of police officials and business people to determine how to work together, share knowledge, and come up with comprehensive plans.

Representatives of the East Forest Park Civic Association and East Springfield Neighborhood Council attended the meeting and said their neighborhood groups are very concerned about the 10-day hold approved in 2011, and favor the longer hold.